Buried in storage at a sprawling antebellum Georgia plantation is a film clip that has baseball enthusiasts buzzing.

At first glance, it looks ordinary. The grainy, out-of-focus black-and-white footage shows black men playing baseball in a grassy field for 26 seconds. Nobody hits a ball or runs toward a base.

But University of Georgia archivists say the film is remarkable for its age: If shot between 1917 and 1919, as they believe, it is the oldest known film of African-American baseball players.

“It’s truly a great find,” said Raymond Doswell, a curator at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Mo. “We haven’t seen any black baseball footage from that era.”

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., has analyzed the film but not determined whether it is the oldest of its kind, said Craig Muder, a spokesman.

“Unfortunately our archivists do not have a point where they can say, ‘This is the first or this is among the first,’ ” Mr. Muder said. But historians there are continuing to analyze the film.

Blacks played baseball as early as the mid-19th century, historians say. They joined college teams with white players by the 1880s in the Midwest.

But no film had been found from before the creation of the Negro Leagues in 1920. The earliest came from a 1921 movie, “As the World Rolls On,” which has footage of an all-black Kansas team in the background.

The Georgia footage was donated to the university last year with 140 other reels by the Pebble Hill Plantation, a 3,000-acre farm in Thomasville. For decades, they sat in boxes in a dusty room of the plantation’s main house.

Margaret A. Compton, an archivist at the university, said the baseball clip caught her eye as she scanned the hours of footage. Most home movies are of birthday parties or babies playing, she said. A baseball game at a Southern plantation featuring black players was different. “The first time I saw it, I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is really something special,’ ” she said.

With Barbara Cohenour, the manager of the plantation’s museum, she began piecing together clues about film clip’s age. Plantation records show that the property’s owner, Howard Melville Hanna, received the camera as a Christmas gift in 1915. The players’ uniforms closely resemble those in photographs taken at the plantation around 1917. An emblem in the final frames suggests the film stock was bought around that time.

The players were plantation employees, Ms. Cohenour said. Initials on the uniforms show that Pebble Hill was playing the neighboring Chinquapin Plantation. The games were recreational, not spectator sports, she said.

“We don’t know the players’ names,” Ms. Compton said. “But they might have been the horse trainers or the butlers or the chauffeurs — any jobs available at the plantations.”

The MRI on Kevin Youkilis’ back was “negative,” which according to Yankees manager Joe Girardi means there is no new structural damage to an area of his body that has been troublesome for some time.

The 34-year-old third baseman will be given an epidural injection of a painkiller Monday night or Tuesday.

Youkilis also might be headed to the disabled list. That’s something the Yankees might be regretting not having done when he first complained of lower back pain and pulled himself out of a game against the Blue Jays after five innings April 20.

Youkilis has missed eight of the nine games since then. He played Saturday against Toronto but came up lame Sunday — and before the game, he conceded he might have tried to come back too soon.

Now, he might be lost for the next 15 days at least.

“We’re deciding what we’re going to do,” Girardi said. “He’s having a problem. Over the next couple of hours we’ll decide. I’ve had epidurals and played either the next day or two days later. But I don’t know if he’s in a position to play in two days. We’re gonna make a decision on him tonight.”

So, is Kevin Youkilis’ Yankees career going to be more or less than 100 games?

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It’s funny. I am a Yankees fan. Yet, when I think of really long baseball games, I will always remember that Mets-Cardinals game from 1974 and the Mets-Braves game from 1985.

Why?

Well, that Mets-Cards game was 25 innings. And, at the time, I was 11-years old and really just starting to follow baseball very closely at that time. Everyone made a big deal of it, at that time, and, well, to an eleven year old, the notion of a 25-inning baseball game was just crazy.

Everyone makes a big deal about that Mets-Braves game. As a franchise, it’s a milestone event for the Mets – the whole 4th of July thing, and all the stories around that game. But, for me, what I remember most about it was a girl named Kristine.

At the time, I had just graduated college and had yet to start my first full-time job. I was dating a girl at the time – and she had two younger sisters. One was 19 and the other was 15-years old. The younger one was Kristine.

She was a sweet kid. I used to call her “Special K.”

All the girls were Mets fans. And, their father was a huge Mets fans. (And, yes, at the time, this all made my life hell.)

Back to the main point, the day after that Fourth of July Mets-Braves game, I was over at my girlfriends house. Kristine was usually the one who answered the door when I came over. But, she was not around that day. When I asked for her – and this was probably around mid-day – I was told that she was sleeping. This seemed late, even for her. But, then, her mother told me what happened the day/night before…

“Special K” had watched the entire Mets game the day before – which ended at 3:55 AM. Her mother said that she never fell asleep and stayed up to watch the whole thing – and was toast by the time it was over. Now, that’s a fan. And, even a Yankees fan has to tip his cap to a little girl who was that passionate about her Mets team.

For the record, she was also a huge Danny Heep fan. Wasn’t there once a story about him being a jerk? I seem to recall some story around that – where he didn’t answer a fan’s letter and/or request for an autograph (or something) and then someone made a banner about (or wrote a book)? Or, am I just (in the words of Roger Clemens) misremembering that?

Brandon Moss hit his second home run of the night with two outs in the bottom of the 19th inning to give the Oakland Athletics a 10-8 victory over the Los Angeles Angels early Tuesday in the longest major league game of the season.

The teams were on the field for 6 hours, 32 minutes in a marathon game that ended at 1:41 a.m. on the West Coast. By time, it was the longest game ever played in Oakland — and the longest in Angels history.

Oakland slugger Yoenis Cespedes singled off the left-center wall against closer Ernesto Frieri to drive in the tying run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.

Los Angeles went ahead 8-7 in the 15th on Brett Anderson’s bases-loaded walk to J.B. Shuck, but the A’s tied it in the bottom half on Adam Rosales’ two-out single off Jerome Williams after a costly error by Angels first baseman Albert Pujols.

Pujols homered twice earlier in the game and finished with four hits and three RBIs. Mark Trumbo also went deep for the Angels and added a two-run double.

As the game dragged on deep into the night, fans who remained in the scattered crowd of 11,668 chanted the names of Oakland’s radio announcers, Ray Fosse and Ken Korach. One player in the Angels dugout wore a rally cap folded in half, with the bill sticking straight up like a mohawk.

But it was the A’s who finally pulled it out on Moss’ two-run shot.

Seth Smith drew a leadoff walk from Barry Enright (0-1) in the 19th and, two outs later, Moss drove an 0-1 pitch to right for his fourth homer of the year. Josh Hamilton jumped in vain at the fence, but the ball sailed well beyond his reach.

Enright, normally a starter, was called up from the minors Thursday and was making his first big league appearance of the season.

Jerry Blevins (2-0) worked 1 2-3 scoreless innings for the win.

It was the longest game in the majors since the Pittsburgh Pirates won 6-3 in 19 innings at St. Louis on Aug. 19 last year, according to STATS. But it wasn’t the only baseball marathon of the night.

The Miami Marlins beat the New York Mets 4-3 in 15 innings in a game that took 5 hours, 31 minutes, and ended about 12:45 a.m. on the East Coast.

Turned out, that was a breeze compared to what the Angels and A’s had in store.

A friend of mine, who lives about 40 miles southwest of Yankee Stadium, in New Jersey, went to the game yesterday via car. He said that it usually takes him about an hour, give or take, in typical traffic. But, yesterday, he said, door-to-door, it was only 36 minutes – which is an all-time record for him.

It was Sunday. Beautiful, if not perfect, weather for baseball. And, it was a 1 PM start. Per the Yankees, there were 36,872 attending the game. But, how many do you think were really there?

A parent was arrested on an assault charge and both teams were ejected from the Rumson-Fair Haven Regional at Red Bank Regional baseball game after a brawl emptied benches in the bottom of the sixth inning Saturday morning.

“Both teams were ejected entirely, the game was terminated by me and everything else will be settled by the NJSIAA and the Shore Conference,” said the game’s umpire, Vinny Smith. The NJSIAA is the governing body of scholastic athletics in the state. The Shore Conference is the governing body of scholastic athletics in most of Monmouth and Ocean counties.

During the scuffle, a Rumson-Fair Haven parent came on the field and assaulted a Red Bank Regional player, Little Silver Police Lt. Robert Frank said. Police charged Patrick Maisto, 49, of Rumson with simple assault, Frank said.

Police, who were notified by the athletic department, were conducting witness interviews as part of an investigation, Frank said Saturday afternoon.

Red Bank Regional coach/athletic director Del Dal Pra said the brawl occurred after a Red Bank batter missed a suicide squeeze bunt attempt with a runner on third base. Dal Pra said the runner coming home from third collided with the Rumson-Fair Haven catcher.

Smith said the runner coming home “came in with a shoulder block on the catcher and was called out and ejected. The catcher retaliated by fighting.”

Both benches emptied at that point, Smith said. He said 22 players from Rumson-Fair Haven and 14 from Red Bank Regional were ejected. No coaches were ejected, Smith said.

“The coaching staffs of both schools acted swiftly and as best as they could,” Smith said. “They did a commendable job in trying to break it up and they were very cooperative at the end of the game.”

Smith said he planned to file a game termination report with the NJSIAA Saturday night.

The incident could result in both teams being ineligible to participate in the NJSIAA Tournament because both teams had three or more players or coaches ejected from games prior to the start of the state tournament. The tournament starts May 20.

Rumson-Fair Haven had tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the sixth inning and Red Bank was threatening to retake the lead in the bottom half when Ross Gisondi singled to left and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Brian Wikoff. Gisondi then stole third to put the go-ahead run 90-feet away with only one out.

With Dillon Stambaugh at the plate, Red Bank elected to attempt a suicide squeeze play.

As RFH pitcher Chris Drummond began his motion, Gisondi took off for home and Stambaugh squared to bunt.

Stambaugh missed the bunt attempt and Rumson-Fair Haven catcher Joey Spernal had Gisondi dead-to-rights out by several feet. Gisondi then lowered his shoulder and barreled into Spernal, which is considered an illegal slide and calls for an automatic ejection from the game at the high school level.

Spernal immediately retaliated against Gisondi, prompting Stambaugh to react and both benches rushed the field and entered into a melee that lasted several minutes.

As coaches and RBR personnel managed to separate the players from a scrum near the first base line, a Red Bank Regional player tackled a Rumson-Fair Haven player near the left side of the mound by approaching from behind, wrapping his arm around the RFH player’s neck and taking him to the ground, where he delivered several punches.

When the dust cleared, Red Bank Regional Athletic Director and head baseball coach Louis ‘Del’ Dal Pra was holding an adult by the arm and calling for his athletic trainer to call the police, claiming that the adult, identified as Patrick Maisto,49, had struck one of the players.

In a world full of smart phones, I am surprised we don’t have any video of this one yet…or, is it out there and I just missed it?

I stopped at “67″ since the seasons totals for numbers after that were very small for players. Note: Some of these “record holders” will change as soon as next year – assuming some active guys do not retire and/or change numbers. Lastly, thanks to Baseball-Reference.com for the data.

Bill Madden says: If the Yankees do a study of all the contracts of six or more years given out by clubs to position players 29 years or older over the past 10 years, there is sufficient evidence for the Bronx Bombers to give pause before doing likewise with Cano.

All along, the New York Yankees have stated the effort to cut their 2014 payroll to $189 million is merely a goal. More and more, it’s one major league sources don’t believe they’ll reach.

In recent months, the Yankees have become far less bullish on their publicly stated austerity plan, admitting to other executives and agents that staying beneath the $189 million threshold is unlikely and impractical.

“They’re going to be over 189,” one source familiar with the Yankees’ plans said. “They know it. Everyone knows it. You can’t run a $3 billion team with the intentions of saving a few million dollars.”

The logic holds up well: The Yankees are arguably the greatest brand in American sports, and already with an injury-depleted roster this season, they could suffer a down year. To dilute the Yankee name for multiple years would necessitate a humongous monetary benefit – one sources say the Yankees no longer believe is coming to them, even if they were to dip beneath $189 million.

While the stash of money New York expected to reap was in the tens of millions, it’s not nearly as large as the Yankees had hoped, a prognosis that is pushing the team to recalibrate its plans, sources said. The Yankees expected to receive money not just from a decreased luxury tax rate but a complicated clause in the collective-bargaining agreement called the market-disqualification rebate.

MLB’s revenue-sharing program works like this: The league taxes every team at 34 percent on its local revenue, pools the money and distributes it evenly. Beyond that, as a means to funnel more money to lower-revenue and smaller-market teams, it uses a variable tax rate that forces teams with big revenue streams in big markets to pay more on top of the 34 percent.

The flaw in the system is that some teams in the top half of market size are not in the top half of revenue, meaning big-market teams are getting revenue-sharing dollars like small markets. In recent years, these teams have included Washington, Atlanta and Toronto. Starting this season, such teams were mandated to give a portion of that money back to the bigger-market teams – 25 percent in 2013, 50 percent in 2014, 75 percent in 2015 and 100 percent in 2016. The catch: Teams needed to be under the luxury tax threshold to qualify.

Considering the money would be distributed proportionally to contributions, the Yankees expected their rebate to be significant – upward of $45 million between 2014-16 if they kept their payroll below $189 million for those seasons, according to two sources.

One hitch: Washington’s success has thrust it from so-called payee club to payor. And the Braves, despite a bad TV contract, and Blue Jays, with an old stadium, aren’t far behind. The Miami Marlins, expected to be payors, have quickly reverted to payee status. Barring a change in the game’s economics over the next few years, the big rebate money, sources said, simply won’t exist, and the impetus for the Yankees won’t be nearly as strong.

“The assumptions on the market-disqualification rebate haven’t held,” one American League executive said. “The pool is going to be much less than everyone anticipated.”

The more well-known portion of the Yankees’ plan involves the luxury tax, and it’s likely not significant enough savings by itself to push the team below $189 million. Because they are repeat offenders, the Yankees get taxed at 50 percent of every dollar they spend over $189 million. If they dipped under that threshold in 2014, the tax would reset and charge them only 17.5 percent and 30 percent for the next two years.

With a hypothetical $205 million payroll from 2014-2016, the Yankees would pay a total of $24 million in luxury tax. Were they to dip under $189 million in ’14 and go back above it in ’15 and ’16, they would pay $8.4 million. The savings are more significant at higher payrolls. A $220 million payroll the next three years would equal $46.5 million in luxury tax payments, while jumping to $220 million after a year under $189 million would save the Yankees more than $30 million.

If he stays healthy, Andy Pettitte has an excellent chance of becoming the Yankees franchise leader in career games started and in career strikeouts this season. Assuming he sets these marks at home, should the Yankees handle it the same way that they did when Derek Jeter became the franchise leader in career hits? And, when he makes it, does it pretty much lock up the deal that the Yankees should retire #46?

But, what if Jeter comes back this year and plays in 70 games and bats .260? And, what if his range in the field is even worse than before his injury?

Will the Yankees then look at him and think “We survived most of 2013 without him – so, why do we need him in 2014?”

And, if the team brass takes this approach, and tells Jeter “Thanks, but, no thanks” for next year, how will that impact the relationship between the player and the team? Think Yogi Berra was thick? He’s nothing compared to Jeter. Imagine a world where Derek Jeter ices out the Yankees and boycotts a return to Yankee Stadium because of bad blood over the way his career ended…

Mason Williams, a 21-year-old outfielder considered one of the top prospects on the Yankees system, was arrested on a misdemeanor DUI charge early this morning, Tampa police said.

An arrest report indicates Tampa police stopped his 2012 Range Rover at 2:45 a.m. while he was weaving and speeding. He failed a field sobriety test. His blood alcohol level was .067/.062, under the Florida threshold of .08.

In his first 126 PA of 2012, Tex had a BA/OBP/SLG line of .217/.270/.374
In his first 241 PA of 2010, Tex had a BA/OBP/SLG line of .215/.332/.376
In his first 99 PA of 2009, Tex had a BA/OBP/SLG line of .182/.354/.338

First baseman Mark Teixeira had optimistically circled May 1 as a target for his return from an injured right wrist, but he now acknowledges he will not meet that goal.

Teixeira has been able to take dry swings from both sides of the plate and feels no pain, but he said that the wrist is not loose enough to hit baseballs, making it unlikely that he will be able to return in the minimum timeframe.

“Obviously, I was being as optimistic as I could,” Teixeira said. “I wish that the very first time I swung a bat, I’d be like, ‘Wow, I feel 100 percent.’ But the chances of that happening weren’t there, but I was always going to hope for that and prepare for that.”

Teixeira tore the tendon sheath in his right wrist while preparing for the World Baseball Classic in March. He believes he can make it back to the lineup in May, but manager Joe Girardi does not want to put a timetable on Teixeira’s return.

“I’ve said all along, this is probably the most unpredictable one,” Girardi said. “Derek [Jeter] has become somewhat really unpredictable, too, but wrists are really tricky. You go day by day, week by week, and you see how he’s doing. Eventually, if you can get him in games, you have a much better idea.”

Because Teixeira is not ready to play in Minor League games, he will accompany the team to New York after Wednesday’s game instead of staying in Florida to continue workouts.

“It’s good to have [head athletic trainer] Steve [Donohue] and the doctors there just on an everyday basis after I swing to look at the range of motion and make sure everything’s good,” Teixeira said.

O.K., let’s say that Tex returns to the Yankees some time close to June 1st. That seems fair. And, let’s assume that he gets off to a slow start to the season, like he does most times (as a Yankee).

What do you think Mark Teixeira’s world is going to be like if goes back to the Yankees with two months of the season done and then he bats .200 with no power in his first month or so back? Think the fans and the media will give him a buddy pass?